As the up-to-date development of scientific technology has recently been concentrated on the biotechnology field, the importance of the analytical technique in the biological field has been increasingly emphasized. However, due to the immense complexity of the vital phenomena, and because of the involvement of various biological molecules in the analyses of biological samples it is very difficult to develop techniques for precise measurement. For this reason, standard measurement technique in the biological field involves many difficult problems in the procedure of the development thereof and is not yet established internationally. Because an attempt to develop the standard measurement technology in the biological field by partially improving experimental methods or introducing high-priced equipment while maintaining the framework of the pre-existing biological measurement methods has limitations for improvement, it is necessary to develop techniques based on new measurement principles in order to establish reliable bioanalytical methods.
Existing analytical methods which identify the presence of a specific gene or protein include PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and ELISA (enzyme linked immuno-sorbent assay), but these methods are carried out on cell extracts or (partially) purified molecules, but not on whole cells. A technique which can determine the presence of a specific gene or protein within a single cell may provide improved accuracy compared to the pre-existing analytical methods.
Meanwhile, as interest in GM foods has recently been accentuated, there is a need for a reliable method for GM food analysis.